Thoroughly Modern Living in Lake View

List Price: $1.59 million (under contract)The Property: City homebuilderBart Przyjemski has been doing so well with his contemporary-styled homes that he had this one in Lake View under contract before we could get there to shoot video. But it serves as the model for his next few homes—and quite a model it is, with its bold glass and panelized exterior…

List Price: $1.59 million (under contract)The Property: City homebuilderBart Przyjemski has been doing so well with his contemporary-styled homes that he had this one in Lake View under contract before we could get there to shoot video. But it serves as the model for his next few homes—and quite a model it is, with its bold glass and panelized exterior.

Inside, Przyjemski and his wife, the interior designer Anita Lisek, don’t go quite so bold, softening instead into a mix of contemporary and classic finishes. That’s clear in the living and dining room, where a large wall of glass meets wood wainscoting, beveled-edge walnut floors, and decorative ceiling architecture. The contemporary openness is maintained with a series of cutouts in the staircase wall and a pair of cutout passageways (instead of formal doorways) into the kitchen. One of those passageways contains a wine room, with a glass wall and metal spikes instead of the standard wood cubbies for holding bottles.

The kitchen is a knockout, with a big white island, tall, traditional-looking cabinets, an array of high-end appliances, and a steady bath of sunlight coming in through a large wall of windows. It opens into a contemporary family room made intimate by wood beams in the ceiling.

There’s a media room, bar, and bedroom in the basement, and three bedrooms on the second floor. The front bedroom has more of the glass that fronted the living room, so occupants have a wide-screen view of the neighboring homes. (The glass, by the way, is highly reflective on the outside, so that it affords great views from indoors but blocks prying eyes from outdoors.) At the opposite end of the house is the master suite, with a formal ceiling in the bedroom and a pair of pocket doors that open to reveal a master bath. The centerpiece is an oversize soaking tub with a glass-boxed shower behind it that has “all the fixtures you need for the total car wash,” says the listing agent, Melanie Giglio. Tall south-facing windows, frosted for privacy, provide lots of daylight.

Daylight also comes into play on the top floor, where a nicely outfitted penthouse room sits between a cozy north-side rooftop deck and its very big south-facing counterpart. With a portion roofed and a far larger area open to the sun, it’s a good place for entertaining. Open-air stairs lead up from the two other outdoor levels of terraces (atop the garage and at ground level) to this aerie with a view of both the Willis Tower and the John Hancock Center.

Price Points: Giglio would not disclose the sale price of the house. A block east, another Przyjemski home with a similar but not identical design was priced at $1.65 million and is also under contract. Four blocks west is yet another Przyjemski home, going for $1.3 million, and Giglio says there are at least two more ready to break ground, though not on the same street. In the past, most of the homes Przyjemski built were in slightly less hot neighborhoods and were priced in the range of $900,000 to $1 million, Giglio says.